Trust Co. of Vermont Invests $69.43 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 203,595 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,430,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 2.6% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Principle Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $9,224,000. UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $539,000. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $380,000. Finally, Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $670,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $342.61.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $375.76 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $398.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $330.20 and its 200 day moving average is $237.05. The stock has a market cap of $306.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 308.00, a P/E/G ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.